Adoration
by Jay Bird12
Summary: Falling in love with a player only gets you heartbreak in the end. The story of one girl and the farmer who broke her heart.
1. Awkward Meeting

**Adoration**  
Chapter 1  
By Jay Bird12

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**Author's Note: **I'm back! This is my first Harvest Moon story in a while, so I hope you guys like it. Make sure to leave a review when you're done reading.

**Disclaimer:** Characters, not mine. Flower Bud Village, not mine. Not trying to claim them. Kthx.

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There comes a time in every girl's life where she feels the pain of heartbreak, of rejection and worthlessness. Heartbreak is the subject that graces the pages of many novels, many poetry collections … many suicide notes. Each story may be different, but the resounding feeling that permeates through all of them is the same. The subject is nothing new, but with each retelling, the author makes the feeling her own. My name is Ann Green, and this is my retelling.

--

"Ann, wake up, you lazy bitch. I'm not doing your chores again!"

I opened my eyes tentatively and looked up to see my brother Gray's scowling face looking down at me. Somehow, knowing that he was already angry at this hour of the morning made me feel relieved. If Gray was happy, it usually meant that there was something wrong. A smile must have played at my lips without my knowledge, for after looking at me for a few more seconds, Gray sighed angrily and stormed out of my room.

After hearing the door slam loudly, I leisurely sat up and stretched, letting out a large yawn. I really wasn't ready to wake up yet, but I knew that Gray was serious when he said he wouldn't do my chores again, and I had to take care of the animals. I slid out of my nightgown into my regular everyday overalls and began my trek to the barn, pausing along the way to grab a cold onigiri that had been left sitting on the table for me. Over the years, I had mastered the art of braiding my hair and eating food at the same time, so I multitasked my way out the door and across the yard.

A little while later, after I had finished letting the cows and sheep out to graze, I heard noises coming from the entrance to our pasture. Curious, I made my way over, and saw a boy stroking the mane of one of our horses. I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out who he could be. I was almost positive that I had never seen him before, which was strange since Flower Bud Village was such a small town. Suddenly, the boy turned his head and caught me staring at him. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and looked down, embarrassed. Just as I turned to run away, I heard the boy call after me.

"Hey, wait!"

I paused, listening to his footsteps follow me until he caught up and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around to look at him and realized that he was kind of cute up close.

"I wanted to introduce myself," he said, reaching into his rucksack to pull something out before continuing, "my name is Jack, and this is for you," he finished, pulling out a small yellow flower and handing it to me.

"Oh, f-for me? Thanks …" I managed to reply, looking up at him (he was so much taller than me!).

He grinned happily, teeth and all, and I felt like that smile was meant for me and only me. It was a strange sensation; I'd never seen anyone with such a great smile. I looked down again at the flower in my hands and fingered its petals uncertainly, wondering why he had given it to me in the first place. It was probably nothing, I told myself as I struggled to come up with a way to escape the awkward silence that was quickly settling over us.

"Oh! I saw you were looking at Cliffguard before! Do you like horses?" I asked quickly, an idea forming in my head.

"Sure I do. It would be nice to have one of my own for the farm."

"You can have Cliff's brother, if you want," I said, smiling. We had been looking for a home for the colt for the past few weeks, since technically we didn't have enough room to keep another full-grown horse in our crowded stables.

"Really?" he said, looking visibly shocked, "you'd just give me a horse?"

"Um, well, sure. We need to find a home for him, and I think that if he's anything like Cliff, you'd probably be able to train him into a great racer, too. We just don't have the time to do that here."

"Okay then, I'll take him," he said, grinning again.

I quickly turned away to go find the horse so that he wouldn't see the color that his smile had caused to flush my face. I walked over to the edge of the field where my father was standing and brushing the colt I had been telling Jack about. I quickly ran my idea by him, and he nodded, agreeing. He then led the horse over to where Jack was waiting and told him he would deliver it to the farm for him.

Once my father had left, it crossed my mind that the small horse didn't have a name.

"Oh, Jack, I forgot, the horse needs a name!" I said, catching his attention.

He stared at me for a moment, seeming to be contemplating something, before he simply stated, "Well, you never told me _your_ name."

"I'm sorry! I forgot! My name is Ann …" I said, thoroughly embarrassed at forgetting such a simple thing as telling him my name.

"Well then, I'll name the horse Andy," he said, winking as he turned and made his way back to his own farm.

"Oh," I said, watching him walk away and letting his last sentence sink in, "_Oh._"

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A/N: Hooray for awkward first meetings between a girl and a cute guy! Squee! If none of you know what I was talking about with that smile thing, then I feel bad for you. No, actually I envy you because it's definitely a player smile. I've gotten it quite a few times before, myself. --; Anyway, review please.

Oh, and I know this first chapter was short, the rest will probably be a bit longer, I just wanted to cut this one off there. :


	2. Ask Karen

**Adoration**

Chapter 2

By Jay Bird12

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**Author's Note: **I just wanted to thank all of my reviewers, first of all. I appreciate your words. Now, about his chapter … I'm not too sure about it. There are certain parts of it that I like but other things are a bit, eh, I don't know. I'm leaving it like this for now, but if I can think of a better way to write it, I may take it down later and revise it. Oh, and there's a flashback in this chapter, that's the part in italics. Ann's thoughts towards the end are also in italics and single quotation marks (ex: _'thought'_)

**Disclaimer:** Characters, not mine. Flower Bud Village, not mine. Not trying to claim them. Kthx.

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I saved the first flower that Jack had given to me in a small vase on my windowsill. I also saved the flowers he gave to me on every subsequent visit to the ranch until the vase was full and I had to start using our water glasses and mugs to hold the overflow.

One day in mid-spring, as Gray was digging through the cupboards for something to pour his milk into he growled, "What the hell happened to all of our glasses?" I shrunk back, silently chewing on a piece of taffy and trying to avoid his gaze.

"Oh, I think your sister has been using them to hold all the flowers she's been getting from her new boyfriend," my dad answered off-handedly. Gray glared at me, waiting for my response. I quickly jumped up to defend myself.

"First of all, Jack is not my boyfriend! Secondly, I know I haven't used all the glasses, there must be … some …" I trailed off as Gray flung open the cupboard to reveal a vast empty space with no glasses or cups of any sort to be seen.

"Oh, alright … so I used up all the glasses. I'm sorry; I'll go get you one …"

I slowly walked to my room, feeling Gray's eyes burning into the back of my head the whole way. As I shut the door behind me, I looked around the room at the bright yellow flowers displayed on every available space. I plucked one out of its glass and gently placed it in with another. Then, I picked up the flower-less glass and brought it out to Gray, handing it over without saying another word.

--

Jack came by that day, bringing another flower with him, as usual. He greeted me with a friendly hello, and that same smile of his. Actually, I had begun to think of it as "my smile". I had seen him smile at Gray and my father before, but he never smiled at either of them the way he smiled at me. It was curious, I thought, that he gave me these smiles and visited me every day with a gift, and yet never hinted at what his intentions were. I couldn't tell if he was just being overly friendly, or if he could possibly, just maybe … like me.

As I accepted his flower that day, my mind flashed back to the morning's incident, and I realized I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. "Er, Jack … I really love the flowers that you bring me, don't get me wrong, but … honestly, I'm running out of places to keep them," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Jack just tipped his head back and laughed. I stared at him, blinking, and wondered why he found it so funny. After a few moments he looked back at me, still grinning in amusement and said, "You don't need to keep every single one of them, you know. I wouldn't be offended if you threw them out or anything."

"Oh," I said, sounding a bit deflated. Maybe these gifts really didn't mean anything to him after all. They had to, though, I mean, it's not like he went around giving flowers to every girl in town every day … did he? I laughed inwardly at the thought. The sweet Jack I knew would never do that. For the moment, I stuck the flower behind my ear, having no better place to put it.

"Um, so the Goddess Festival is coming up in a few days, Jack, have you voted for who you think should be the goddess this year?" I asked him curiously. He thought for a second before answering. "Well, truthfully, I'm not too sure how this whole festival works. The girl who's the goddess, what does she get to do?"

"Oh, well, basically it just means that she gets to wear a prettier dress than the rest of the girls and dance with whoever the Harvest King of the year is," I responded. I had forgotten that Jack had never experienced the Goddess Festival in Flowerbud Village before.

He reached up and played with the few strands of hair sticking out of his backwards-facing baseball cap thoughtfully for a few moments before asking, "So I won't get to dance with the goddess?"

"Nope."

"Well then, that may change my vote," he said, grinning. I blinked, wondering what exactly he meant by that. "Alright, Ann, well, I've got lots of work to do today, so I'm gonna head out now. See you tomorrow?" He always left it as a question, as if I would mysteriously disappear one day and refuse to see him. I smiled and responded, "As always."

As I watched Jack walk away, I felt a twinge in my stomach. I reached up, took the flower from behind my ear, and just looked at it, turning it over in my hands. I really wasn't sure how I felt about Jack. I still didn't know much about him--we had only met less than a season ago, for Goddess's sake—but I couldn't deny that there was some feeling there, gnawing at the pit of my stomach, that made me look forward to his visits every day. The same feeling that made me want to save every flower he had ever given me, the same one that made me blush whenever he smiled at me.

I had never really had these kinds of feelings before for a guy, any guy, before. Truthfully, I didn't know what they meant. Now, I wasn't completely naïve, I knew what the feelings were, I just couldn't understand why I was feeling them about Jack. In this situation, there was only one thing an inexperienced, confused girl like me could do. I needed to talk to Karen.

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I quickly made my way over to the Vineyard, and knocked on the door to Karen's home. Unsurprisingly, her mother, Sasha, opened the door. "Oh hello, Ann, Karen is up in her room. Go ahead up," she said, letting me inside. "If you girls need snacks, tea, anything, just let me know!" I heard her call after me as I sprinted up the steps two at a time.

"Karen!" I exclaimed, a bit louder than intended as I flung open the door to her room and rushed inside. As I stopped to catch my breath, I watched as my beautiful best friend whipped her head around, annoyance marking her facial features. When she saw it was only me, however, her countenance softened and a relieved smile actually stretched over her face.

"Jeez, Ann, take it easy. I thought you were going to be my mother again. She's been coming up here every two seconds today to check on me." She said this, laughing softly, but at the same time she reached up to wipe at one of her eyes. It was only then that I noticed both of he eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and there were the unmistakable marks of tears that had rolled down her face, taking much of her eye makeup with them. Why had she been crying? Suddenly, I felt bad intruding and wanting to force my problems onto her.

"Karen, what's wrong?" I asked softly, making my way over to where she sat on a chair next to the window. I sat on the bed near her and reached over, stroking her hair comfortingly.

"It's nothing, really," she said, waving it off, "just the usual."

"Oh …" I said, finally comprehending. Karen's parents fought often, and although she never let anybody else know, it bothered her beyond belief. So much so, that she would have days like this, where she sat in her room, alone, and just cried.

In an effort to forget about her own problems for a little bit, Karen tried to swing the conversation back towards me. "So, Ann, why did you come over?" I still felt bad, and was second-guessing whether I should ask for her advice or not, so I simply replied, "Oh, come on, can't I just come over to hang out with my best friend?" Karen laughed. "You haven't come over 'to just hang out' since we were 12 years old! Now come on, tell me what your problem is today. You know I love solving your problems!"

"Well …" I began.

"Out with it!"

"It's about Jack," I finally admitted. Karen just looked a bit confused. I had forgotten that she didn't like to associate with new people in town, so I described him for her. She finally let out an "Oh! I think he comes to the bar sometimes" of recognition, and then I continued on with my story, telling her about the flowers, his smile, and the feelings I had been having.

As I finished, Karen sat with her eyes closed, meditating in silence, her own problems completely forgotten for the moment. As I went to say something else, Karen shushed me, telling me that she needed a minute to think. I sat, dumbfounded, and stared at her, waiting for an answer.

"It seems to me," she began, after abruptly looking up a few minutes later, "that you have a crush on Jack..."

"Yes," I said, "but … I already knew that."

"Let me finish!" she said hurriedly, "You have a crush on Jack, BUT, you don't know how he feels about you, so you're afraid to do anything about it." She smiled contentedly, looking proud of herself.

What she had said was true. I was confused about Jack's feelings for me. However, I still couldn't figure out why I had a crush on him when I barely knew anything about him. When I voiced this predicament, Karen just laughed.

"You don't have to know anything about him to like him. Sometimes it just … happens." She said this smiling, and I watched as her eyes glazed over, undoubtedly thinking of the time that she had declared her love to my brother Gray when we were 10 and he was 13. It had been comical, and I remembered the day vividly.

"_Gray! Gray, wait!" called the young brunette girl, running after an awkward-looking, acne-faced preteen. When Karen finally caught up to a bewildered-looking Gray, she grabbed his hand, and looked up into his eyes, saying in a wobbly voice, "Graaayy, I love you!"_

_Gray visibly recoiled, and quickly pulled his hand away from the younger girl before saying in an annoyed tone, "How the hell can you love me? You don't know anything about besides the fact that I'm your friend's brother!" Karen's face fell, and she responded, "I know that you're cute …"_

A week and three full cartons of ice-cream later, Karen had moved on to her next victim, er, crush. This was why I had come to Karen for advice on Jack. She was one of those girls that had been guy-obsessed since she was in diapers, and to me, who was utterly clueless on the subject, she seemed to know everything about them.

"So, what should I do about Jack?" I asked, pulling my friend out of her reverie.

"Well, obviously, you just have to ask him if he likes you!" She said without hesitation.

I was much more uncertain. "What if he says no?" I mumbled quietly, looking down. She took my hand in hers, and I looked up at her as she responded, "Then you call him a jerk, forget about it, and move on to the next guy!"

I only wished it would be as easy as she made it sound.

--

The next day, Jack came to visit me again, and I was on edge the entire time. I really wanted to ask him, but I was too afraid. I didn't know what I would do if he said no. I barely heard anything he said the whole time he was talking to me. All I could comprehend were the flower, the smile, and the question I was repeating over and over in my head. _'Come on!'_ I willed myself silently _'Just ask him! Four little words, it's not that hard. Besides, wouldn't you rather know than sit here wondering?' _Just as I was about to open my mouth to say something, I realized Jack was staring at me expectantly.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, not having heard the question he asked me. He laughed before repeating, "I said, see you tomorrow?" I blushed. Of course, the same question he asked me every day. "As always!" I responded cheerily. Then he turned to walk away and I realized that if I didn't say something now, I would be missing my chance. I would have to wait, wondering, another whole day. I couldn't take it! I had to know!

"Jack," I said timidly, twisting the end of my long braid in my fingers.

"Nn?" he answered, turning back to face me again.

"Do you … I mean, I- w-wha … doyoulikeme?" I stammered quickly, blushing furiously.

Jack flashed me one of his patented smiles as he responded, "Sure I do Ann, how could I not like you?" Then he turned and walked away, leaving me wondering what exactly he meant by that.

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A/N: So, that's the end of Chapter 2, for now. Please leave a review! Don't be too harsh, I know this chapter isn't one of my best.


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